chondrite

American  

[kon-drahyt] / ˈkɒn draɪt /

noun

1. a stony meteorite containing chondrules.

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chondrite British  

/ kɒnˈdrɪtɪk, ˈkɒndraɪt /

noun

1. a stony meteorite consisting mainly of silicate minerals in the form of chondrules Compare achondrite

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chondrite Scientific  

/ kŏn′drīt′ /

1. A stony meteorite that contains chondrules embedded in a fine matrix of the silicate minerals olivine and pyroxene. About 85 percent of all meteorites are chondrites.

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Other Word Forms

• chondritic adjective

Etymology

Origin of chondrite

First recorded in 1880–85; chondr- + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

The study suggests that actual CI chondrite parent bodies likely exhibit darker and flatter reflectance spectra than previously thought.

From Science Daily • Dec. 11, 2023

That led Magee and his colleagues to identify it as a chondrite, a meteorite made mostly of rock, in contrast to the iron and nickel composition of so-called iron or “ferrous” meteorites.

From Scientific American • May 25, 2023

“We are excited to be able to confirm that the object is a true chondrite meteorite, in excellent condition, and one of a very small number of similar witnessed chondrite falls known to science.”

From Seattle Times • May 11, 2023

Of the more than 1,000 space rocks that have been found on Earth’s surface, only five are of the this type known as a C.I. chondrite.

From New York Times • Jun. 9, 2022

It's called a carbonaceous chondrite, and people in the past have proposed that that's probably what hit 66 million years ago.

From Salon • May 11, 2022